Do You Want Ramen?
by Severian113
Summary: A NarutoHinata fic. After a training mishap, Naruto wakes up in the hospital bed- and who could it be but Hinata sitting next to him?
1. A Beginning

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.  
  
A stupid story between Naruto and Hinata.  
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A hand. What did a hand mean to him? A hand that held his own, a hand that grasped and caressed the callused skin of his palm, a hand that was so soft and warm and nice- he could feel the hand, the hand, hand, the soft skin of her hand, the delicate fingers...  
  
Naruto awoke slowly from his dream about a hand, and as he awoke he thought that he could feel a hand... the same hand that comforted him through the nights. Of course, he thought, that was impossible: it was a dream, no more-  
  
"Eh? Hinata?" He muttered, as he found himself looking into pale eyes. The hand suddenly withdrew with a squeak, and he found himself wishing that it had remained, as his hand now only caressed the cold air. "Wha- what are wu doing heah?" His tongue was strangely unresponsive. "Waa kant I spik prprerly?"  
  
"N- Naruto-kun! S-Sorry that I was holding yourhandbecauseithoughtitmightbecold-" he heard Hinata stammer and babble.  
  
He smiled. Somehow, even when she was stammering incoherently he still enjoyed the sound of her voice. "Hinah-tah, waat happned?" Gods, his tongue wasn't working at -all-; it felt scalded, burned.  
  
"Oh! don't you remember, Naruto-kun?" He heard Hinata say, this time without stammering. He shook his head.  
  
"Ah'm fraidd no.'  
  
"You were out training, Naruto-kun. I was- was- w-waiting for you..." she said, "and when you didn't come, I- I went out to look for you..."  
  
"Thang-yew, Hinah-tha."  
  
"and I followed the trail that you had made-"  
  
"Thrail?"  
  
"There were a lot of fallen trees along the way."  
  
"O."  
  
"and I found you burned, and because y- you were so bl- bleeding so much, I- I carried you back to the hospital..." Hinata finished.  
  
Naruto tried to grin, but his lips wouldn't move too much. They were unresponsive too. "Wath I berned?"  
  
"Berned? Oh, you mean burned." Hinata said. "Y-you were slightly burned."  
  
"No wunther. Thang-yew bery buch, Hinah-tha. Thamn my thongu."  
  
"Y-you're welcome, Naruto-kun." And as she said this, Naruto's eyes closed once again, and he fell slowly back to sleep. As his breathing slowly settled, she again look at the open hand laying limply besides his bed. She had held his hand the night before, when he was unconcious and hurt... very, very hurt. She had cried for him as she sat through the night, but now, he was alright.  
  
After all, it wasn't just a 'slight burn' that Naruto had suffered- she winced as she remembered how she found him, lying with his clothes burned and ripped, the ground around him gouged by some invisible force, and blood slowly trickling from the side of his mouth. She had started crying then, and staggering, and half-carried half-dragged Naruto until she somehow came across Kiba, who had been in the forest with Akamaru for some reason of his own...  
  
They had carried Naruto all the way over to the hospital, bleeding still, and as she looked again down to her skirt, still stained with his blood, she remembered how the medical-nins had at first assumed that he had been attacked, and when she had heard that the blue-haired girl had gone limp- Naruto-kun, attacked, alone! Of course, when Tsunade-sama had come with a white-haired man in tow, they had merely laughed and said that it was merely training that went bad... of course, they never explained what training it was, and Tsunade-sama DID stay for hours with Naruto, daubing medicines and sewing up cuts, until finally she had tasked one of the nurses to keep him sleeping for at least a day more.  
  
Still, Naruto was alright. For that Hinata was grateful, and as she hesistantly took Naruto's rough hand into her own, she remembered why she had been waiting for Naruto to come back in the first place...  
  
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Hinata walked hesitantly towards the gate, her skirt clinging to her legs in the slight wind, as she walked nervously to where Naruto would come from after his training. The sun was almost about to go down, lingering red in the horizon; the air around her seemed to be dyed orange. But she wasn't in the mood to appreciate nature, for she was on a task requiring a tremendous amount of courage...  
  
The blue-haired girl was about to ask Naruto out. To dinner. Eating ramen may not have been the most romantic thing to do to her, but if it meant spending time with Naruto-kun... Although they were friends after she had started working at the Ninja Academy as a teacher, she had never revealed her feelings for him... and although Iruka-sensei had fully blessed her endeavors, she still feared rejection- what could be worse than for him to laugh when she asked? It would mean broken hearts and broken hopes, and she had had enough of that already.  
  
But when she had reached the gate and had waited for some times, hours at least, the night had come already with the moon, she had made up her mind: when Naruto came swaggering from the forest, she would pop him the question- "Do you want to eat ramen with me?" It sounded distinctively un-romantic to her, but this, after all, was Naruto she was thinking about. He was an unconventional guy.  
  
He never came. As the moon rose high, and people started shuffling in to their homes, she knew that there had to be something wrong- she decided to go check on him, and using her byakugan she started looking for him...  
  
And had found him lying on the ground, bleeding and burned.  
  
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"Alrighty! We have a contest... You have to say 'I love you' to whoever's name you draw out of the hat!" Kakashi yelled very un-Kakashi-like. But then, this was Naruto's dream: if it meant besting one Uchiha Sasuke, anything went.  
  
So, in his dream, Naruto was twelve again, back in Team 7...  
  
Sakura went first as Kakashi jumped and pranced for her to come forwards. Leering from his one eye like Naruto always knew he did, Kakashi offered her the hat. The pink-haired girl reached in, and took out a folded note...  
  
"Ooh! I love you, Sasuke!"  
  
Naruto groaned; this wasn't the way it was supposed to go! Kakashi merely laughed, and gave the hat to Sasuke, who reached in, and took out a name.  
  
"Ooh... oh gods... I- love- you-... I can't say it." Uchiha muttered.  
  
"Then you lose!" bellowed Kakashi. Naruto laughed, and ran forward to take his turn. He reached in, and drew a name... 'Hyuuga Hinata.'  
  
"If you scream it the loudest, you win and beat Sasuke, Naruto!" yelled Kakashi. "And Sakura will fall spontaneously in love with you when you scream it out loud!"  
  
"Yeah..." Naruto muttered. "I love you, Hinata."  
  
"Yeah! I LOVE YOU, HINATA!!!"  
  
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Hinata had been thinking when suddenly, Naruto started mumbling in his sleep. She reached in, concerned... she noticed that he was sweating, also. She took our her kerchief, and was brushing his forehead when she heard, quite clearly,  
  
"I wub you, Hinahtha."  
  
She drew back suddenly, as if stunned. She couldn't believe her ears... But then, people having dreams never lied, did they? But then, she might have just heard things...  
  
"AH WUB YOU, HINATHA!" Naruto suddenly screamed.  
  
A/N: That's pretty much it... just imagine what might happen when Naruto wakes up. Review! 


	2. A Bloody Wreck

Disclaimer:I don't own Naruto.  
  
A/N: My quest to write a mind-numbingly sappy romance fic has been achieved with this fic... Also, thanks to all the reviewers!  
  
2nd A/N:This was supposed to be a one-shot, but here's chapter two, anyways...  
  
"AH WUB YOU, HINATA!!!" Naruto cried.  
  
Hinata stared at Naruto again, this time in disbelief. He was sleeping again, she saw, but... 'Could he... love me?' She wondered. 'Could he!' Her heart started beating faster. She had, after all, heard before that no one lied while they were sleeping. And if Naruto had yelled it out in sleep, could it be that he harbored feelings of his own? Unsure, but now filled with hope, Hinata merely grabbed his hand with two pale hands as she waited for him to awake... And as she did, Hinata could hear her own heart beat, 'b-bump, b-bump, b-bump, b-bump...'  
  
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Naruto awoke feeling groggy. Although he had a very good dream, he couldn't remember it, and moreover, he could tell that whatever pain killers they gave him were now wearing off. His skin felt crisped, and tingly; his mouth felt slightly burned and very cottony, and his eyes felt half-baked...  
  
It was morning now, he saw. Hinata must have left; the blond-haired teen felt sad for some weird reason he couldn't discern. The feeling was eerie and weird, for it wasn't for one specific reason that he missed her: Naruto missed her soft hands, her pale eyes, her dark-blue hair, her soft voice... For some reason, he really liked her.  
  
He stirred. After a day, the Kyubi's healing powers had restored him to a point where he could move: he soon put that facility to use by staggering out of the bed and walking limply to the bathroom. He blearily staggered in, dressed in a small hospital gown, and as he parked himself right in front of a urinal, he parted the fronts of the gown...  
  
"Aw- ya!"  
  
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Hinata stared into a mirror.  
  
She had left Naruto back in the hospital at night, and had come back to sleep... but why was it that she couldn't? His words- "Ah Wub You, Hinata!" -rang around her mind the whole night. And as she got up from the bed, she thought again of those words...  
  
Could they be true? Could... Naruto hold feelings for her? As she started softly washing her face the words still rang around her mind... those words... "I love you, Hinata..." well, actually, "Ah Wub You, Hinata," but still...  
  
She decided to visit Naruto again this morning.  
  
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"Hey, lady, you guys wouldn't have any ramen, would'ya?" Naruto asked. His tongue had healed enough for him to talk normally.  
  
"Sorry, young man." the nurse said, shaking her head. "I'm afraid not. Your tongue is still too damaged for hot foods-"  
  
"But this is gruel! How am I gonna be Hokage eating -this- muck?"  
  
"This is rice porridge, mister, and I cooked it and we at this hospital cooled it down for injuries like what you've got, young man!"  
  
"Whatever. My point is that as a shinobi I need some food!"  
  
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"T-two ramens, miso and pork, please." Hinata said, as the owner nodded. She handed him the money, got the change back, and waited as the man started packing the ramens in portable plastic bowls.  
  
"C-can I have a box, please?" the man nodded sourly, and stared at her a little too long. The man fished out a box, and put the two bowls in with wooden chopsticks.  
  
"Thank you," Hinata said, while bowing. The man grunted, and went to help the next customer. She walked away, and still her thoughts were occupied with that single little phrase bouncing through her head, complete with all the slurry words from the burned tongue and the spittle that had flown from his mouth: in fact, she started to hum, trying to get those words out... but she couldn't.  
  
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Naruto spooned down the rice porridge, after the nurse threatened to have him served real gruel instead. He was scooping up the last of it when Hinata walked through the door... but as he was about to say hello, the blue-eyed boy saw that she was carrying-  
  
"Ramen! I love you, Hinata!" He cried jubilantly. Hinata blushed brillantly, and stared at the ground: but Naruto never noticed it... he was too fixated on the food. "Hinata! You can't believe they served me cold rice porridge only! I mean, how the hell am I supposed to get better eating filth like that!"  
  
Hinata nodded a little. "Y-yes, Naruto, but I'm s-sure-" oh gods, she thought, why am I so nervous- "that t-th-there was a r-reason..." she left off, feeling even dumber.  
  
"Aw, come on, Hinata... Can I please have ramen?" Naruto pleaded, clasping his hands together. "I'm a lot better already, anyways!" He made what he thought was the so-called 'puppy eyes'.  
  
The blue haired girl blushed even deeper. But Naruto didn't notice...  
  
"O-okay..." She took out a bowl, which the blond took gratefully. "Here you go, Naruto..."  
  
"Thanks, Hinata!" He was splitting the chopsticks when he said suddenly, "I did say I love you, didn't I?"  
  
Hinata was feeling like fainting from all the blood rushing to her cheeks. "Y-yes..."  
  
"Good!" The blond-haired boy exclaimed. He started eating the hot, steaming noodles, occasionally groaning a little.  
  
The pale-eyed girl decided to pop in the question that had been plaguing her mind since yesterday. She said hesitantly, as she laid down her bowl unopened on the bedside table, her heart thumping madly, "D-do you... r-rem-remember what you s-said last night?"  
  
Naruto was eating skillfully. "Nope. Not a thing." He didn't look up from his bed. "I was so groggy from all the medicine they gave me while I was knocked out that I don't remember a thing after that rasengan got messed up..."  
  
Her heart was starting to crack a little... "Y- you mean you don't remember anything?"  
  
"Nope. Not a thing. Heck, I could have said 'I love you' to Sasuke for all I know!" He said with a laugh. Hinata felt her heart suddenly beginning to fall apart. The blond-haired boy went on, oblivious. "I mean, I remember having a stupid dream, but I can't even remember that!" He stopped, then asked, "What -did- I do, anyways?"  
  
"N-nothing..." She said. She felt stupid: how could she have been so... idiotic? "Na-Naruto, d-do you by any ch-chance h-have any f-feelings for... me?" Okay, she thought: she had asked the question. It had taken all her courage to ask that, but still- she knew that those words would have tormented her for weeks if she hadn't asked.  
  
Naruto suddenly stopped eating. He turned slowly towards Hinata, his blue eyes meeting her pale ones. Then he suddenly started laughing. "Yeah! Of course I do." Hinata suddenly felt her heart start to pick up the loose pieces that had cracked off earlier. Naruto went on, a grin forming on his features. "I mean, you're one of my best friends. Right?"  
  
"Y-yes..." Feeling like little tiny goblins were stomping on her heart with spiked clubs, she got up from the chair, feeling tears leak from her eyes. She thought she said something about letting Naruto have her untouched ramen, and as she turned around and started to walk towards the door Hinata heard Naruto yell, "Thanks for the ramen, Hinata!"  
  
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Naruto was shoveling ramen into his mouth when he heard Hinata ask, ""Na-Naruto, d-do you by any ch-chance h-have any f-feelings for... me?" He stopped for a second: did he? Yeah, he did, but it was for a friend... a small insistent feeling that one might have for a friend. Yeah, he thought, definitely a friend. Now,as for love, pink hairs and green eyes beckoned him... although he still winced after the last uppercut Sakura had landed on him.  
  
But why did Hinata ask him, though? Surely she couldn't have any feelings for him... it must have been all those 'I love you's that he had been saying to her, Naruto thought. He thought that he shouldn't say all those things anymore, now that he's got her suspicious- for some reason the blond-haired boy felt his chest clutch when he thought of Hinata not being friends anymore, just because he gave her the impression that he liked her. 'I mean,' he thought, 'girls don't like it when you like them. Look at Sakura!' .  
  
"Yeah, of course I do!" He said. Hinata brightened a little, which surprised Naruto. But he went on anyways, and forced a smile on. "I mean, you're one of my best friends, right?" He looked at her expectantly, hoping that she would brighten up...  
  
She stood up suddenly, and he saw disconcertingly a trace of tears glimmering in her eyes. She murmured that he could have the rest of the ramen, and turned to go- her voice sounded like she was crying. Naruto shouted, "Thanks for the ramen, Hinata!", but she didn't turn.  
  
The blond-haired boy felt utterly stupid. And sad. And alone... for some weird reason. When he saw Hinata about to cry, Naruto suddenly felt like getting up and giving her a hug. He laid down the ramen bowl next to the one Hinata had left, his appetite gone. And he noticed absent-mindedly that she hadn't even touched her ramen...  
  
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	3. Soul Searching

Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own Naruto.

Chapter Three:Some Soul-Searching

To say that Hinata fled the hospital weeping would be overdramatic. She actually walked quite demurely and in possesion of herself, and just a glimmer of tears gathered in the corner of her eyes as she clutched and tried to pick up the pieces of her- heart? soul? love? Who knew?

Maybe it was hope. It had been delicous for that short period of time when she thought Naruto returned her feelings. And it was gone now, away drifting in the cold northern wind.

One step forward, one step forward, one step on and on til' she reached the house. Hinata concentrated on each individual step, and clung to the sheer mundane monotonous of it. It would save her. She knew that, from experience. When her father's anger got the best of him, and he would sit trembling from fury and despair over her ineptitude, she counted the grains of the wooden tiles, the motes of dust dancing in the sunlit air, or the-

Someone sang. The sound grew louder and louder. The singing sounded bubbly and drunk.

Hinata again tried to concentrate on her footsteps, but the singing kept drawing her back to the real world, where the streets were now empty and the sun slowly, inevitably, descended. The singing kept growing louder, and the pale-eyed girl thought that the singer, whoever she was, must be near by now. Maybe twenty meters away.

Hinata slowly stepped to the side until her right arm pressed against the wall, and the shadow wrapped all around her. Then, hidden, Hinata waited, watching.

A trio of drunken young ninjas staggered out of the small alley. Hinata could smell the sour scent of sake and the cheaper rice beer reeking from them. Two men held the singer- who had long, blond hair that reached all the way down to her waist- between them, holding her up.

'Chouji,' Hinata thought. 'That's the big one- and the other must be Shikamaru. And the one who's singing must be Yamanaka Ino.' She watched as the three stumbled and tripped out of the alleyway, and started dragging themselves to wherever they had to go.

The one in the middle- Ino- kept on singing, as Hinata watched, unseen, from the shadows.

_My love for you was sweet as a cherry  
but you've gone and smashed it all to pieces_

_My love for you was smashing and fiery,  
but you've gone and put the fires out altogether_

Hinata recognized the song. A 'band' had come through Konoha three months before, and had sang these songs- and they had been awful. But, still, the tune had a mindlessly fun quality to it- numbing, almost. Hinata found herself starting to hum along with Ino's drunken song. And so, humming, she watched the three ninjas walk away in drunken companionship.

As they all walked away, the pale-eyed girl found herself staring at Ino, who pressed closely- very closely- against Shikamaru. And Hinata wondered if she would ever do that with Naruto...

When the sound of Ino's song faded away til' Hinata could only hear slight echoes of it, the purple-haired girl started moving along. She had to get home.

By the time she reached the Hyuuga Manor, the wind had again began to blow, a cold chill that seeped into her bones. Shivering, she leapt over the walls, nearly stumbled on one of the tiles on the way, and landed softly on the stone courtyard.

The guards had seen her, of course, and had identified her as a Hyuuga. Otherwise, several ninjas would have attacked her by then. Hinata shivered once again as the wind grew sharper. Hinata hated coming back to this manor, this giant place of dark corners and keen disappointment- this place was haunted with memories, most of them sad and shameful.

But the pay for teaching at the Academy wasn't enough for her to afford the basic, neccesary things she needed for living, and so she had to come back every month, and take a small bagful of coins. Even after being disowned, Hinata still had her privileges, and thus she had access to the family vaults- and although, with it, she could have lived comfortably, she only chose to take enough money for her to pay the rent for the apartment on. Hinata still had her pride, as little as it may have been.

She tried to straighten her back, to stand straight as the main building, a giant, newly-renovated palace (for there was no other word for it). But she kept on slouching, her back curving, nearly bowing with some invisible weight as she neared the main building. Hinata felt her heart beat faster with each individual step.

Finally, she reached the main building. It smelled of incense, wood, and blood. She walked inside, not bothering to take her sandals off. It paddled against the polished wooden floors.

Servants and the household guards walked and patrolled the hallway of the manor, and all bowed to Hinata as she walked towards her destination. She bowed back to them, equal to equal.

The family vault was simply a solid wooden wall, with sixty-six holes carved into it. Only one of the holes held the key to opening it. The other sixty-five holes held poisoned needles, poised to plunge into the thieving hand. The theory was that only those with the Byakugan would be able to see the real hole on the wall, and even if they had the Byakugan but missed the real one, well, they shouldn't have been born in the first place- the Hyuuga name held no idiots under it's banner.

The hole with the key was the one three holes up and five holes to the right of the bottom left hole. Hinata reached in, grasped for the small steel cube- a small corner of her mind expected a tiny, deadly jab- and found it. She drew it out; the key, black and cold, gleamed under lamplight.

Applying a small bit of chakra to it, she watched it flare, then dropped it gently to the floor. The steel cube clanked on the wooden surface- then, on the floor, it began to melt away, slowly oozing chrome lava over the polished wood.

After about fifteen seconds, the cube had completely melted away. The silvery-chrome-lava seeped into the woods, also, and now, as the substance disappeared, a small, steel lid appeared. It had a small knob.

Hinata knelt down onto the floor, grasped the knob, and twisted.

The wall of the sixty-six holes simply swung backwards, and revealed the vault to Hinata, all it's wealth shining and gleaming. She paid the gold and the jewels no mind; instead, she walked over the shelves lining the vault, opened one, and took some bills out instead.

When Hinata left the vault, the wall slowly, smoothly swung shut once again. The steel lid on the floor was gone. Heart strangely feeling guilty, as if she had been robbing the vault, rather than taking just what she needed from what was rightfull her's, Hinata started walking away, her sandaled feet slapping against the smooth wooden floor.

"You've grown shameless, you know that?"

Hinata recognized the voice. Turning, she bowed low, eyes fixed onto the floor. "Hello, B-brother Neji."

"And still stuttering." Neji sounded imperious.

Hinata knew better. She, perhaps out of all the people in Konoha, was the only one who understood him, and perhaps, maybe, loved him like a brother, and feared him, also. Not even him teammates- Tenten, Lee- knew him better.

Neji was never imperious. Never. Only bitter. And the two were different things, the first borne from the pride, the second born from experience...

"I-I'll b-be going now," Hinata said, and bowed again. She turned, and began to walk away, and she almost expected Neji to say something to her, something hurtful or something so meaningful, like the time they had been trapped in-

"Goodbye," Neji said to her. Hinata turned, startled; but he was gone.

* * *

"So I'm outta here, right?" The blond-haired boy asked, as he huriedly dressed. First went the tattered orange pants, then a gray long-sleeved shirt; over that went the chuunin vest, and finally, the forehead protector that he tied around his neck.

"Guess so, kid." The medic-nin, a woman with a scarred face and a missing nose, said. "You seem alright, although I don't know how the hell you managed to heal in that short period of time..." Then she grimaced. "Oh, damn it. You're that Naruto."

"Oh, yeah. That's me." Naruto smiled. "So what happened to your nose?"

"Hey, I really didn't mean much by... whatever the hell I said earlier." The medic-nin patted him on the shoulder gently. "Sorry, kid. Didn't mean it. Seriously."

"I don't mind." Naruto said. "But what the hell happened to your nose, anyways?"

"You know, to some people that'd be offensive."

"Oh, shit. Sorry-"

The medic-nin held up her hand. "Hey, I didn't say I was one of those people, kid. I'm proud of my scars. Shows that I went down fighting for the village. Honor-badge, almost. Got it cut off when I got captured by the Sand."

"Awesome." Naruto said. "Uzumaki Naruto, chuunin and the sixth Hokage of Konoha."

The medic-nin laughed, and her scars- criss-crossing across her cheekbones- twisted and rippled. The missing nose gave her a reptilian look, like a snake, almost; but Naruto didn't feel any animosity from her.

"Name's Akari, kid. Glad to meet you."

* * *

It was deep night, when Hinata reached her shabby apartment. It had been all she could afford, at a normal teacher's pay; and now, with deep budget cuts that the Hokage had made, the teacher's pay in her case as an teacher's assistant had been cut in half. Which had been why she crept back to the Hyuuga Manor every month in the first place- it was something she would rather not do, but seeing as how the only other alternatives were to start taking up missions again, or go live in the streets, or -and gods forbid- to go back to the Hyuuga Manor...

The door, chipped and trashily painted over, swung open with a bang that rattled the walls. Inside, the smell of rotting wood and mothballs filled the air. Some sparse, cheap furniture were scattered around the room, and as Hinata closed the door and sank onto her creaky bed, the tears began to come out...

She didn't want to cry. But they came out anyways. Maybe it was because of the fact that her dream for the last few years had finally culminated in a bloody wreck today- Naruto, Naruto, Naruto.

_Author's Note:I have been gone for a long time... but I decided to finish what I started. Thanks for reading!_


	4. Chains

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto._ **  
**

**Chapter Four: Chains**

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* * *

**

Everything felt blurry; Hinata realized that her eyes had gummed up from the tears the night before. Staggering from her chunky bed, the girl stepped hesitantly towards the restroom.

The water felt icy, chilling; it felt like a keen knife, as they flowed against her hands. She gathered a cupful of the streaming water, and splashed them against her face. Rinse and repeat: Hinata started to feel her eyes beginning to clear up a little.

When she felt normal enough, Hinata stared into the mirror before her. Long, messy hair, and blank white eyes rimmed with ruptured veins. A pale face, with a slight, faded scar crossing from her right ear to where it ended right before the eye.

Sighing, Hinata turned away, to prepare for her day ahead.

* * *

The sun rose; and in concerto Naruto's mouth opened like a gaping maw also, revealing rows of gleaming white teeth. He never had problems with teeth; the Fox's chakra seemed to help with that, also. 

He jumped from the bed, bare feet rattling the floor of the apartment, and raced for the restroom. The blond kicked the door open, and with one hand flipped the light switch on as with the other he-

No need to know, eh? Sufficient to say that he relieved himself.

When he was done, Naruto did not bother washing his hands, and simply strode out of the restroom with a satisfied smile on his face. His brief stint inside the hospital had opened his eyes to the joys of solitary living.

He cast off the pajamas onto the floor, and walked towards the closet, opening their doors with a bang. Nothing hung inside the closet; all the clothes were piled in tangled heaps on the bottom, orange and grey and black and green mingling and mixing like a potpourri of watercolors. Naruto reached in, sorted through a few of the shirts, and picked one out that looked to be quite clean: it was a gray long-sleeved shirt, and although there were some bloodstains on the front and it stank slightly of old moldy sweat, he slipped it on- it wasn't as if anyone would notice the difference.

But where were his pants? Naruto looked for them without success- he had three pairs, one black and others orange, but they were all gone from their usual place on the floor.

Clad only in his boxer shorts, Naruto shrugged, and went to the kitchen. He could find pants later: no missions today, anyways.

The blond-haired boy looked into one of the drawers right below the stove. Nothing. He had bought a box of chicken-flavored ramen a week before, and it should still be here- strange, he thought. Naruto began to sort through all the drawers in the kitchen; maybe he had misplaced it.

Twenty minutes later, the Chuunin, thoroughly pissed, stared straight up to the ceiling and screamed, "What now! _What!_"

There was a snicker, and Naruto waited, steaming, as the seemingly-whole ceiling started to become webbed with cracks. Then, without any warning, a boy of perhaps ten jumped down. Naruto looked back up at the ceiling, and saw only smooth surface.

"Pretty slick, eh?" Konohamaru said, grinning. "Fooled you too. And you're sixteen!"

Naruto wasn't amused. "I don't mind it when you pretend to be a girl and sneak into the bathes. I don't mind it when you set up booby traps around my house. I don't mind it when you try to summon a giant frog and end up with bleeding fingers that don't stop bleeding because you messed up. _But you don't touch my ramen._"

"What ramen?" Konohamaru asked, pretending to be puzzled. Naruto had dealt with the kid too many times to mistake that look of fake bewilderment.

"My ramen! Where did you hide it, you little punk!"

"Such words, master!" And with that, as Naruto was about to lash out with his fists, Konohamaru disappeared with a puff of smoke.

He didn't even bother looking for the little pest. Naruto simply swung his arm out backwards in a slow, wide arc- and connected solidly with the back of Konohamaru's head. The little Genin was thrown back by the blow, and fell to the ground.

For a split second, Naruto was alarmed, thinking that he had seriously injured the boy; but then, he remembered one of Konohamaru's favorite tricks- playing dead. So Naruto simply walked up to the limp body, and kicked him hard, between the ribs.

"Ow!" Konohamaru cried, jumping up.

"Where is it?"

"Where what?"

"The ramen, you little ass."

"Oh." Suddenly, Konohamaru frowned; his lips curved rapidly downwards, and his eyes, simultaneously widening, glimmered with unshed tears as he started to blubber out, "Oh, Master Naruto, I sold them to feed my mammy and pappy-"

Groaning, Naruto held out his hand, signaling the Genin to stop. "Not that act again. Please."

"Sure." With that, Konohamaru's lips snapped back up and stretched back into their usual position, which was from one ear to another, showing brillantly white teeth.

"Now: where's my noodles?" Naruto asked. "If you don't tell me, I'll kick your ass."

"Will you beat me up with that cool wind-thingy?" Konohamaru asked, eyes wide again. "Awesome! Shoot me in the chest with it!"

"No!"

* * *

A little of the miso paste was still left in the black pot, but there wasn't enough to cook anything with it- so Hinata simply ate the miso with the rice, dabbing a little of the paste with each swallow to give some flavor to the otherwise flavorless breakfast. Each bite tasted like sticky sand. 

When done, she put away the pot- there still remainedsome of it left- and stacked the empty bowl in the sink, along with the dishes piled up from the day before yesterday. Normally, she kept her shabby apartment impeccably clean; but right now she didn't feel like doing much.

Sighing, Hinata walked to the closet, and picked out the clothes for work. Her body still creaked. It was the product of falling asleep in her clothes, but still, why couldn't they invent clothing that felt comfortable even after you slept in it? She catalogued that thought into a little file in her memory that she called "Things To Do."

A white shirt, emblazoned with the symbol of the Leaf on the back; a pair of black pants, and a gray jacket over it; she didn't keep a truly fashionable wardrobe. But eveything hung neatly and in order according to their color and size, and all the clothes smelled slightly of lilies- nothing strong or overwhelming, just enough to be pleasant.

"Pitiful."

Startled, Hinata turned, and saw Neji. She wasn't relieved.

"Don't you have any shame?" Neji continued, without waiting for her reply. "You're a Hyuuga, for gods' sakes."

"Brother Neji," Hinata said, bowing.

"Get up," Neji said, irritated.

Hinata complied. She wondered what he was doing here- what was his purpose? He hated her. Not as much as he used to, but hate was hate, no matter how you changed. Neji was a different boy from the days back- but, seventeen or not, hate remained.

And how did he sneak in like that?

"You shame us all," Neji began.

"I- I've heard this be... before."

"I'm not talking about your profession, or your lack of any special talents. I'm talking about this." His eyes took in their surroundings derisively. "You're a Hyuuga, for gods' sakes. It does not reflect well on our clan if you live in this... _hovel_."

"I, I c-can't af, affored anything else..."

"Stop stuttering," Neji said absentmindedly. "And what do you mean, you can't afford anything else?"

"The pay for teachers... and their assistants... was c-cut by half."

Neji raised an eyebrow. "You know how to access the vault. Much of it is by yours, too, by law both Clan and Village."

Hinata could not reply.

"Is it for pride?" Neji smirked. "You only take little? Let me tell you this: so long as you depend on the Clan's money, no matter how little you take, you are still debting yourself to the Clan. It isn't the amount that matters. Only the act. If you truly wanted to break away, learn how to live, by yourself."

How could she tell him? How?

"No answer. Just silence. The refuge of the weak-minded." He sighed, and turned to leave. Hinata was curiously saddened by that- he hated her, yet she did not, and family, no matter how estranged and bitter, was always company.

"Take this." With that, Neji tossed over his shoulders- without turning- a small, brown sack. Hinata caught it; the sack felt heavy, hard, filled with things that clinked together inside.

"Open it." He had opened the door, and was in the process of walking through the doorway. Then he said, outside in the hallway, "if you truly want to leave..."

The door swung shut.

Hinata untied the strings that bound the bag, and looked inside. Gold. Pure-minted gold, with jewels mixed in between. Inside this little bag would be enough money to last her years- in fact, she might even be able to...

Leave? Could she? And she thought, yes. I could leave. Nothing truly bound her here.

But then, she caught a sight of herself in the bathroom mirror, standing with the bag of gold spread open in her hands. And she laughed; she couldn't leave. Never. No matter what. What names or disguises, after all, could hide her eyes? Those eyes that marked her, for good or ill, as Hyuuga.

She tied the sack of gold once again, and slid it under her bed. She might need it later.

* * *

A/N:Thanks for all who read and reviewed! And as a note, things will go... faster, later on. Specifically, next chapter. 


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